Iceland, Cuba, China, Alaska, and Texas in a Week: The Weekly Recap
Greetings from Alaska… and Texas! ( We are one part Jetsetter and one part Homestead this week. I’m off seeing Alaska as I joined Seabourn Sojourn earlier this week for her inaugural voyage to The Last Frontier. Meanwhile, Jim is keeping things together in Fort Worth. He’s tackling some home projects that are best accomplished without me underfoot. And we are both working on a few spring cleaning refresh projects for the website and on our social media accounts.
The Weekly Recap
We’ve stayed busy this week trying to update both the current cruise (Seabourn Ultimate Alaskan Sojourn 2017) as well as the one we finished last month (NCL Sky Havana Nights Cuba Bahamas 2017). Regular readers have probably noticed by now that we don’t tend to write in a chronological or sequential manner. So for longer trips, we like to use summary pages (like the ones linked above) to help keep things organized.
Here is a summary of what we wrote about this past week:
Delta and Hyatt Failures, U2 Success, and Planning What’s Next – Our last weekly recap catches you up to where we started this week.
Round Up: Overbooking, Pedophiles, and Mishandled Luggage – A summary of interesting, intriguing, or strange travel (or somewhat related) stories we stumbled upon in our daily reading.
WOW Air Review: Iceland To and Fro – Our new contributing writer Samantha shares her experience on WOW Air to Iceland.
Round Up: George Clooney Travel Ban, John Travolta’s Gift, and Travel Policy Hell – A summary of interesting, intriguing, or strange travel (or somewhat related) stories we stumbled upon in our daily reading.
Seabourn Returns to Alaska After 15 Year Absence – Ultra-luxury cruise line Seabourn kicks off the summer season with a return to Alaska after an extended absence.
Round Up: GPS Costing You Time, Economy Class Burger, Little Mermaid Seeing Red – A summary of interesting, intriguing, or strange travel (or somewhat related) stories we stumbled upon in our daily reading.
Buena Vista Social Club: A Snapshot of Another Havana – Jim shares a unique experience in Havana that gives a glimpse of pre-Castro Cuba. It also enlightens travelers as to the current state of Cuban tourism and sheds light on whether there is hope for the future.
Round Up: Austin Tourism Boycott Proposed, New York for Art Lovers, Fitness Hotels, Largest Airplane in the World – A summary of interesting, intriguing, or strange travel (or somewhat related) stories we stumbled upon in our daily reading.
Worst Tour Guide in the World – I’ve met her and she’s awful. If you don’t believe me, read this. Then you can decide for yourself if she deserves that title.
Instagram Favorites
We love Instagram. It is a great place for us to share our day-to-day life with you. Whether it is the view from the window or travel photos, we like sharing a glimpse of our day. Follow us on Instagram at jetsettershomestead for that little slice of life. We have also started experimenting with stories on Instagram so check in to see if we have any posted!
Here is a weekly recap of a few of our favorite Instagram posts from this week.
Affiliate Spotlight
We pay for 100% of our travel and other reviewed/discussed items on Jetsetter’s Homestead unless otherwise explicitly disclosed. Affiliate or marketing partnerships help compensate us for the time and resources we put into Jetsetter’s Homestead. Our major affiliate partnership is with Amazon but we also have a growing list of other companies we have hand-selected. These companies pay us a small percentage of referred sales (or sometimes just product credit) if you use the links we provide. On the weekly recap we like to highlight one of the retailers we work with and why we like them!
I’ve written briefly before about my love affair with Tieks. They made an appearance in my list of 21 Must-Have Essentials for Summer Travel and they are, quite literally, the most comfortable flats I’ve ever discovered. I was a customer long before I was an affiliate partner. I owned FOUR pairs of Tieks before I was an affiliate partner. That is how much I love these shoes.
I always share this disclaimer. Tieks are NOT the “wear all over Europe on cobblestones” and pack nothing else shoes. Tieks don’t have arch supports and are not good as your only pair of shoes. (Sorry… that’s just truth in advertising.) But Tieks are the cute dressy alternative that I wear when I am traveling on business and I can’t wear my heels for one more minute. Or when I am wearing a long formal dress on a cruise and don’t want to wear heels after a day in port.
I carry Tieks in my bag for the airport. Tieks fold up flat and come in their own carrying bag. Tieks come in many cute colors and look adorable with sundresses or jeans. And the sturdy soles hold up better than any other flats that I have ever owned.
Tieks arrive in gorgeous packaging that feels like receiving a special present. Just unwrapping Tieks felt special. And the company is fantastic about returns/exchanges. I didn’t get the right size the first time and they sent me another pair while waiting for my return to come back. (Size note – I needed a smaller size. In my experience, order based on your foot length, not width. I’m an 8.5 triple wide who often ends up in 10.5-11 to get a get a normal fit. I wear a 9 in Tieks.)
What’s Next?
I’m kicking off another week in Alaska so I’ll be continuing to share my thoughts aboard Seabourn Sojourn on her inaugural sailing here. Things are getting VERY interesting here. Seabourn has just cancelled ALL of the promised Ventures kayaking and zodiac tours for this Alaska sailing due to problems with the local authorities. (See last week’s article for details on those special tours which were a unique highlight for Seabourn.) We have some unhappy passengers! I’ll be working on getting the inside scoop on what has gone wrong.
We’ll also have our usual daily round up of usual travel stories and frequent flyer news. And we will continue to share our thoughts on travel/life balance including preparing for Fathers Day gifts! Subscribe to our daily feed to be sure you don’t miss any of our content.
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